[Game website] NCsoft and Carbine Studios are “excited” to announce that WildStar, one of the “most critically-acclaimed” MMOs of 2014, will become Free-to-Play this fall. As this transition takes place, Carbine is committed to ensuring that WildStar will remain AAA, offering polished regular updates and a high-quality experience. To think NCsoft chose to launch this over Blade & Soul.
All players will be able to level to 50, acquire all Amps and abilities, and participate in all dungeons, raids, adventures, shiphands, and PvP. The entirety of the game will be open for players to explore for free. Players may also purchase an optional membership for a monthly fee that will provide various convenience bonuses and enhancements to XP, crafting, currency, item drops and reputation.
Members will gain additional character, costume, bank, supply, and décor items. NCoin will enable players to buy convenience or cosmetic items. In almost every case, items that are available for purchase will have equivalent items available for players that want to invest time rather than money. Not be available for purchase is power – progression will continue to require both skill and effort.
This fall, in addition to going free-to-play, Carbine will be working to make even more quality of life and content changes within WildStar:
1. Streamlining player and item stats to be much more intuitive while adding high-level options to give players more flexibility.
2. Making the Amp system easier to use by unlocking all Amp slots.
3. Reviewing dungeons and open world content so that the experience is challenging, but not brutal.
4. Changing the tutorial and early game experience to provide a better and quicker introduction.
Over the next few months, Carbine will share more details about how this transition will impact all players along with more details on the improvements coming to the game. Players who maintain a subscription from June 15, 2015 through the Free-to-Play transition will receive exclusive items and rewards. Players who maintained their subscription through transition will receive even more.
